Battle of the Western Pass
By the beginning of May, Snowfire had arrived with his 500 men at Teraholm, and he quickly put himself to work with recruiting a second army to join with Bard. He gathered the 2,000 men Bard had left at the camps, and attempted to summon more men of the other clans. However, he soon found his work interrupted by several other factors that demanded his immediate attention. Cravis Brownback was still refusing to muster his levies, keeping them within Brownback territory. Snowfire tried a variety of tactics to spark the Lord's interest, but he refused to answer to anything. In addition, the routine issues of ruling and administration kept Snowfire busy for months with mundane details. However slowly it happened, Snowfire eventually assembled another army of about 7,000 men by mid-September and was ready to march back east. Just before he did, he received an interesting missive from the Brownbacks, specifically a young firebrand named Savrek. Savrek informed Snowfire that various tribes of the Western Wastes had banded together and were marching to cross the western border. He requested reinforcements as soon as possible. Snowfire was fairly skeptical of this report, but he was extremely annoyed with Cravis's unreliability and decided to investigate this claim by Savrek to see if it was true or not. He took 500 men with him with the expectation of a fairly quick return, leaving the rest under the command of Wulroth Ironhand, who was still recovering from his wound suffered at Hentoil's Hill. Snowfire marched into Brownback territory and was fairly surprised to find the western pass being fortified by 2,500 dragonborn. Upon meeting with Savrek and looking over his reports, Snowfire discovered that what Savrek had said was true; approximately 300,000 tribespeople were headed for them, though slowly. Savrek informed Snowfire that not all the Brownbacks were too happy with how Cravis was refusing to support Bard, and that if Snowfire helped them in this endeavor, he might be able to convince more Brownbacks to defy Cravis's orders. So, Snowfire resolved to help Savrek, and send emissaries to Wulroth and Cravis telling them to come to them with reinforcements. Snowfire came to rely heavily upon the bright young Savrek, who organized several traps to slow and inhibit the barbarian advance, and was a creative and . The massive barbarian horde arrived in November, with tens of thousands of men ready to attack. Snowfire refused Ooblon's offers of surrender, and a pitched battle taking place over the month took place, with the disorganized nature of the barbarian army allowing themselves to be taken advantage of time and time again. Upon hearing of the uniting of the Western Waste tribes under High Chief Ooblon, Bard ordered Snowfire to deal with the situation, giving him the command of the 2,000 men he left to guard the camps. Snowfire marched his men west and met up with an additional 1,000 Brownback men, setting up some ramshackle fortifications for the better part of the last half of the year. He came to rely heavily upon the young bright Savrek, who organized several traps to slow and inhibit the barbarian advance. The massive barbarian horde arrived in November, with tens of thousands of men ready to attack. Snowfire refused Ooblon's offers of surrender, and a pitched battle taking place over the month took place, with the disorganized nature of the barbarian army allowing themselves to be taken advantage of time and time again. They suffered nearly 10,000 casualties, with both Ooblon and his warchief, the Grand Talon, slain in battle. Savrek was wounded, along with around 600 Dragonborn casualties. With the death of their leaders and running low on food, the horde fragmented and retreated back into the Wastes. Snowfire quickly rode back to Tryr, attempting to join up with Bard once again.